Another blast of raw energy from the other C&C music factory, Frank Klepacki’s music from the immensely popular Red Alert PC strategy game brings into sharp focus the elements that made his music from Command & Conquer such a compelling listen even away from the computer. Gone are most of the soundbytes within the music (the chilling refrain of film-footage “sieg heil” samples in “Hell March” being an exception), Klepacki brings in da funk in full force. “Mud” is perhaps the best example of what he achieves with the music from this game: funky, atmospheric, moody, and rhythmic, without relying on a hit-you-over-the-head-with-it, four-beats-to-the-measure techno beat at all times. Though further games (and soundtracks) in the Command & Conquer series were released, their music seldom got better than this.

Though it was offered on Westwood Studios’ site for a long time, The Music Of Command & Conquer: Red Alert is now out of print.

1. Hell March (6:24)
2. Radio (4:05)
3. Crush (3:49)
4. Roll Out (3:54)
5. Mud (4:48)
6. Twin Cannon (3:55)
7. Face The Enemy (5:36)
8. Run (5:13)
9. Terminate (5:20)
10. Big Foot (5:15)
11. Workmen (4:44)
12. Militant Force (1:50)
13. Dense (5:02)
14. Vector (4:18)
15. Smash (8:07)

Released by: Westwood Studios / Electronic Arts
Release date: 1996
Total running time: 72:20

Think of it as the Star Trek sound effects CD for computer game fanatics; Namco Classics Collection Vol. 1 (no relation to the Namco Classics remix CD by Techno Maniax reviewed here earlier) is the soundtrack – such as it is – to a multi-game coin-op which includes three of the company’s vintage video game chestnuts, Galaga, Mappy and Xevious, each in both their original and updated “Arrangement” versions. The Arrangement tracks tend to rehash the music of the original games with a more modern sound (though not too modern), and are actually neat; and having heard it many a time while playing one of the bonus games on Xevious 3-D/G+, I can vouch for the unmatched low-key cool of Xevious Arrangement’s level 1 background music.

Nice stuff, and flawlessly captured on disc, but really only for the faithful and devoted fans of “the oldies.”

1. Classics Starting Over (0:06)
2. Classics Opening (0:35)

   from Galaga

3. Kurejitto Oto (0:05)
4. Geimu Staato Myuujikku (0:09)
5. Ekusutendo Oto (0:05)
6. Charenjingu Steiji Staato Myuujikku (0:05)
7. Charenjingu Steiji Paafekuto Myuujikku (0:09)
8. Charenjingu Steiji Nonpaafekuto Myuujikku (0:10)
9. Maishippu Tsurasarare Oto (0:15)
10. Maishippu Torikaeshi Oto (0:05)
11. Kyaputibu Gosha Oto (0:15)
12. Haiscoa Neimu Ire Myuujikku (0:27)
13. Neimu Ire Myuujikku (0:21)
14. Insert Coin! (0:06)
15. Game Start (0:10)
16. Stage Indication (0:04)
17. BGM: Stage 1 (1:04)
18. BGM: Stage 2 (1:08)
19. BGM: Stage 3 (1:02)
20. BGM: Stage 4 (1:10)
21. BGM: Stage 5 (1:15)
22. BGM: Stage 6 (1:05)
23. BGM: Challenging Stage (0:47)
24. BGM: Challenging Stage Clear! (0:09)
25. BGM: Final Stage (1:15)
26. BGM: Indicating Your Score (0:10)
27. BGM: Hi Score Name Entry (0:20)
28. BGM: Name Entry (0:22)
29. BGM: Continue (0:25)
30. BGM: Game Over (0:20)
31. BGM: Ending (1:18)

    from Xevious

32. Kurejitto Oto (0:05)
33. Staato Myuujikku (0:07)
34. Geimu BGM (0:24)
35. Ekustendo Oto (0:05)
36. Ikurai Neimu Ire Myuujikku (0:19)
37. Ikurai Neimu Ire Myuujikku (0:28)
38. BGM 1 (4:35)
39. BGM 2 (4:25)
40. BGM 3 (3:50)
41. BGM 4 (1:34)
42. Staato Mae Manga BGM (0:07)
43. Kurejitto Oto (0:04)
44. Mein BGM (1:11)
45. Ekusutendo Myuujikku (0:05)
46. Mein BGM (Hurry Up!) (0:54)
47. Raundo Kuria Myuujikku (0:06)
48. Boonasu Raundo Staato Myuujikku (0:06)
49. Boonasu Raundo BGM (0:40)
50. Boonasu Raundo Oobaa Myuujikku (0:13)
51. Misu Oto (0:05)
52. Neimu Ire Myuujikku (0:36)
53. Neimu Ire Shuuryou Myuujikku (0:14)
54. Geimu Oobaa Myuujikku (0:12)
55. Insert Coin! (0:04)
56. Game Start! (0:08)
57. BGM: Area 1 (1:42)
58. Round Clear! – Area 1 (0:05)
59. BGM: Area 2 (2:06)
60. Round Clear! – Area 2 (0:06)
61. BGM: Area 3 (1:54)
62. Round Clear! – Area 3 (0:06)
63. BGM: Area 4 (2:01)
64. Round Clear! – Area 4 (0:05)
65. BGM: Area 5 (2:27)
66. Round Clear! – Area 5 (0:05)
67. BGM: Area 6 (2:11)
68. Round Clear! – Area 6 (0:06)
69. Opening Fanfare! – Bonus Round (0:04)
70. BGM: Bonus Round (0:43)
71. Result – Bonus Round (0:14)
72. Winner’s Fanfare – Bonus Round (0:04)
73. BGM: Boss Round (1:24)
74. BGM Hurry Up! Boss Round (0:33)
75. Round Clear! Boss Round (0:06)
76. BGM: Oops! I Missed! (0:06)
77. BGM: Game Over (0:11)
78. BGM: Continue (0:35)
79. BGM: Name Entry (1:36)
80. BGM: Name Entry Over (0:14)
81. BGM: Ending (1:25)

Released by: Wonder Spirits
Release date: 1998
Total running time: 56:18

At some point, I really need to review this movie for you if you haven’t seen it. Go ahead and rent it sometime between now and then, as I’m not going to spoil the plot for you in a music review. I am going to talk about the music, though, if you don’t mind.

I love the music from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. There. Short review, eh?

Okay, not so fast. Sit back down. Let me tell you why. Apart from boasting some of the most elaborate “flying fighting” sequences committed to film in recent years, Crouching Tiger also has a surprisingly romantic element to it, and the music serves both well – by staying low and letting the visuals be the fireworks.

When you’ve got people flying on wires and somehow managing to tiptoe through treetops that couldn’t possibly support their weight, and fighting all the while, let’s face it – big, brassy John Williams-style music would likely evoke a smirk at the very least from the audience. Chinese composer Tan Dun wisely drenches the entire film with a more low-key, mystic sound, which imbues a potentially silly sight with a more magical feel. In short, where the visual impact of these scenes could have been silly, the music salvages things nicely. (Isn’t that what film music is for?)

Special mention also has to be made of the awesome display of percussive force that is “Night Fight” – I can say nothing else here that would do it justice.

1. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (3:23)
2. The Eternal Vow (3:01)
3. Wedding Interrupted (2:15)
4. Night Fight (3:09)
5. Silk Road (3:11)
6. To The South (3:20)
7. Through The Bamboo Forest (4:21)
8. The Encounter (2:39)
9. Desert Capriccio (4:32)
10. In The Old Temple (3:45)
11. Yearning Of The Sword (3:33)
12. Sorrow (4:01)
13. Farewell (2:24)
14. A Love Before Time – English (3:42)
15. A Love Before Time – Mandarin (3:40)

Released by: Sony
Release date: 2000
Total running time: 49:56

Some of us self-confessed pop music addicts are so gaga over just about anything by the Finn Brothers that we’ll plunk down thirty bucks to import an album that appears to have no chance of arriving on store shelves in America. And that was the case when I got One Nil, the second solo album by Neil Finn. And while my music-buying budget isn’t that big, $30 is worth it for a finely crafted album like One Nil.

One All, on the other hand, is the American version of the album, arriving a year later, subtracting two songs (both of which I liked a lot) and adding two more (both of which I like a lot). Why any tracks had to be deleted, I’ll never know, but Finn himself made that decision. He also had several of the surviving One Nil tracks remixed by Bob Clearmountain (who did so much to make Crowded House’s Together Alone album the masterpiece of atmosphere that it was), and changed the running order a bit.

The result is a nice album, but one which may now be missing its emotional core. One All is still, like its original version, largely about fidelity in a relationship, but the addition of the lovely “Lullaby Requiem” (possibly the most tragically beautiful pop song I’ve ever heard) and the quirky “Human Kindness” jars that running theme a bit. Even more than that, the absence of “Elastic Heart” – an abstract, atmospheric song about anger and forgiveness and stretching a relationship to its limits – damages whatever flow One All might’ve had even with the two new songs. I know “Elastic Heart” was probably a song that most listeners considered “weird,” but I grew to like its unusual melancholy brass-band ambience and especially its lyrics. I miss its presence here.

Overall, however, my reaction is one of relief that the album has been released in the U.S. in any form at all. I have a few minor gripes about the remixing done on some of the songs (I actually preferred the moody and sometimes murky mixing of the songs in their original One Nil form), but the songs themselves are still worth the price tag.

1. The Climber (4:15)
2. Driving Me Mad (3:56)
3. Hole In The Ice (4:06)
4. Last To Know (2:59)
5. Wherever You Are (4:42)
6. Secret God (5:24)
7. Lullaby Requiem (3:44)
8. Human Kindness (4:41)
9. Turn And Run (3:41)
10. Anytime (3:23)
11. Rest Of The Day Off (3:57)
12. Into The Sunset (4:12)

Released by: Nettwerk America
Release date: 2002
Total running time: 49:00

Debuting in the 18-month gap between Doctor Who’s 22nd and 23rd seasons, The Tripods was the BBC’s adaptation of John Christopher’s trilogy of children’s novels about a group of young people joining up with rebels in the fight to rid Earth of an alien race which has enslaved humanity. In many ways, The Tripods fared little better than the show it had been intended to replace – it got cancelled after a second season, leaving the show in a permanent major cliffhanger (which itself seems to be something of a BBC science fiction tradition, just ask any Blake’s 7 fan) when the adaptation of the third book was cancelled. Still, both the books and the 25-episode television series left behind a strong cult following. One of the products of that following is this soundtrack collection, consisting of a full-length CD and two CD singles with dance-oriented remixes of the show’s theme and assorted incidental cues.

The main CD itself is a magnificent thing to hear, starting with the incredibly moody theme tune. Foreboding and spooky, the theme from The Tripods still manages to evoke a noble sense of hope, particularly with regard to the version used over the end credits which had more of a stately, march-like rhythm. The first time I ever saw The Tripods, the theme music instantly etched itself into my brain and I have never forgotten it. It’s nice to have it on CD at last, and also in remixed form, about which more in a moment.

The incidental cues that make up the bulk of the full-length CD lean heavily on some stellar synth work from Freeman (who invented his own music synthesizer while in his teens). In a way, this music can sit comfortably alongside the equally memorable analog synth scoring of Doctor Who in the early 80s – stylistically speaking. The music from The Tripods came several years later, and is one of the earliest things anyone ever heard coming out of a Synclavier. Its sweep is majestic and cinematic, and its scary moments are truly terrifying. Freeman managed to coax some disquietingly unearthly sounds out of the Synclavier, especially for the penultimate track, “Embers Of The Freemen” (which also happens to be the cue leading up to the series’ rather unfortunate cliffhanger ending). Early on, there’s some nice acoustic guitar work as well, and the music itself seems to take a journey along with its trio of youthful adventurers, from innocence to a determined but most likely doomed struggle for the freedom of the human race.

The two remix CDs are very short – CD-single short – but they do manage to revisit key moments of the soundtrack in interesting ways. One of the main theme remixes smacks mightily of “Flight Of The Phoenix” and wouldn’t be out of place on the dance floor. I like the remixes, but there’s nothing like that end credit music in its pure, un-messed-with form.

1. Main Theme (2:53)
2. Ozymandias (0:54)
3. The Journey Begins (1:29)
4. Paris, 2089 (1:33)
5. The Storm (1:43)
6. Chateau Ricordeau (2:55)
7. Eloise: Queen Of The Tournament (2:13)
8. Riding Into The Night (2:42)
9. The Reunion (1:35)
10. Vichots Vineyard (4:08)
11. The Chase (4:40)
12. Daniel (4:07)
13. Across The Plains (1:19)
14. Trapped In The Gulley (2:13)
15. Capture (1:30)
16. United With The Freemen (3:01)
17. The White Mountain Suite (5:50)
18. Pierre (3:28)
19. Race For The Erlkonig (2:27)
20. Commandant Goetz (2:19)
21. The City Of Gold (2:41)
22. The Power Elite (2:38)
23. The Cognosc Departs (2:20)
24. Escape From The City (3:38)
25. Rescue At The River (3:53)
26. Trapped At The Ruined House (1:58)
27. Embers Of The Freemen (1:50)
28. Closing Theme (2:42)

Tripods: The Remix
1. The Tripods Main Theme: Revolution (2:51)
2. The Tripods Main Theme: Resolution (6:38)
3. Escape From The City: Retribution (3:41)
4. Ozymandias: Moonlight (7:46)

Tripods: Limited Edition Remix
1. The Tripods Main Theme: Revelation (6:11)
2. Eloise: Symphony (4:41)
3. Ozymandias: Sunrise (6:33)

Released by: Gerry Forrester
Release date: 1995 (remix CDs released in 1997)
Total running time: 74:47
Remix CD total running time: 20:56
Limited Edition CD total running time: 17:25